The politics and policies of parental involvement

Today's parents are involved in college students' lives more than those of any previous generation. Kirsten Kennedy suggests an institution-wide policy on communication with these important stakeholders.     

商业出版的再思考:科技与专业知识的平衡

探讨六种力量对知识经济时代商业出版的影响。技术创新对个体消费者是重要的,但是编辑技巧对团队更重要。具体来说,商业出版对组织机构的知识管理功能将变得不可或缺,并随着组织知识管理需求的增长,出版商拥有一个将自身角色从产品供应商向企业界的服务提供商拓展的机会。     

BOOK REVIEWS

This paper presents findings from a collaborative evaluation project within a masters programme in professional education. The project aimed to increase knowledge of research methodologies and methods through authentic learning where participants worked in partnership with the tutor to evaluate the module which they were studying. The project processes, areas of the course evaluated and the data collection methods are outlined. The findings focus on key themes from evaluating the effectiveness of using a collaborative evaluation approach, including: enhanced student engagement; creativity of the collaborative evaluation approach; equality between the tutor and students; and enhanced research skills. Discussion focuses on the outcomes and effectiveness of the project and tutor reflections on adopting a collaborative approach. This paper highlights lessons from the project relevant to those interested in staff–student partnership approaches and those facilitating postgraduate learning and teaching programmes and educational research courses.

Cet article présente les résultats d’un projet collaboratif d’évaluation ayant eu lieu dans le cadre d’un programme de master en formation professionnelle. Le projet visait à accroître les connaissances des méthodes et méthodologies de recherche par l’entremise d’un apprentissage authentique dans le cadre duquel les participantes ?uvraient en partenariat avec le tuteur à l’évaluation du module auquel elles prenaient part. Les processus du projet, les parties du cours ayant été évaluées et les méthodes de collecte des données sont présentées. Les résultats se concentrent sur les thèmes principaux provenant de l’évaluation de l’efficacité d’une approche collaborative d’évaluation. Ceux‐ci comprennent : l’engagement accru des étudiantes ; la créativité de l’approche collaborative d’évaluation ; l’égalité entre le tuteur et les étudiantes ; et les compétences de recherche développées. La discussion porte sur : les résultats et l’efficacité du projet de même que des réflexions du tuteur au sujet de l’adoption d’une approche collaborative. L’article met en lumière les leçons tirées de ce projet pouvant être pertinentes pour ceux qui seraient intéressés par les approches de partenariat enseignant‐étudiant et pour ceux qui ont la charge de programmes de 2e ou 3e cycle en pédagogie universitaire ou de cours de recherche en éducation.     

Governing the Family through Education: A Genealogy on the Home/School Relation

We examine a century of rhetoric on the home/school relation and investigate how current ideas about this relationship and associated parent involvement might inhibit the realization of justice, equity, and excellence in education. The phrase home/school relation refers to the actual and theoretical pattern of prescribed interactions and communication between families and schools, with an emphasis on optimizing children's development and achievement. Parent involvement, in the home and in the school, is defined as a set of behaviors that results from parents' and schools' understanding of the home/school relation. Excerpts from texts written by post-structuralist philosopher Michel Foucault guide the historical analysis of published rhetoric on the home/school relation. Ultimately, this review serves to refocus attention on the home/school relation and associated parent involvement to expand insight and opportunity for equity in schools.     

Preparing Students for College and Career in the United States: the Effects of Career-Themed Programs of Study on High School Performance

In the United States, education policy calls for every student to graduate from high school prepared for college and a career. National legislation has mandated programs of study (POS), which offer aligned course sequences spanning secondary and postsecondary education, blending standards-based academic and career and technical education (CTE) content and often including work-based learning opportunities. This study examined the effects of these career-themed POS on high school achievement outcomes in the United States. We used structural equations and an instrumental variable approach to test the effects of POS enrollment and participation in CTE course sequences on GPA and graduation. Results indicated that POS enrollment improved students’ probability of graduation by 11.3 % and that each additional CTE credit earned in POS increased their probability of graduation by 4 %. There were non-significant effects for high school GPA. These findings suggest that POS benefited students in terms of retention at no cost to their achievement.     

Gendered readings: Refraining mothers in family literacy

Despite the centrality of mothers in their children’s education, mothers have, until relatively recently, been largely invisible in the research on family and intergenerational literacy. This paper develops a feminist analysis of family literacy programs and outlines a pedagogical framework for family literacy, that repositions mothers as researchers of literacy practices within their families. Data from a case study of an intergenerational literacy program are analysed to make visible the complexity of the mothers’ intergenerational literacy practices and to demonstrate the value of critical literacy as a pedagogical approach that acknowledges the gendered subjectivities of women in family literacy programs as mothers, learners and teachers of their children.